NAS accuses SPLM-IO of embracing “faked-up peace”

Addis Ababa, January 26, 2019 (SSNA) — The National Salvation Front (NAS) has accused the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-In Opposition (SPLM-IO) of being too excited over what it described as “faked-up peace,” saying, the main armed opposition position on democratic reforms in the country is slowly dying.

The accusation comes nearly a week after cracks emerged among senior SPLM-IO officials over a call by the government to wage a joint military operation against the NAS.

“We are disturbed by what we see transpiring within the SPLM-IO. We initially thought the SPLM-IO is the one that deserves to be credited for starting the fight against Salva Kiir’s dictatorship but now we know Riek Machar movement lost its direction,” a senior advisor to NAS leadership who asked his not be published because he was not authorized to talk to the media told the South Sudan News Agency (SSNA) in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Saturday.

“Why would a person accept this revival of dictatorship?” he asked, adding, “This is a faked-up peace.”

Led by Thomas Cirillo, the NAS refused to be part of the September 2018 peace agreement, claiming that the deal is pro-Kiir and that the pact fails to address the root causes of the civil war, branding the agreement “a recipe for more conflicts.”

There are also other signs that some key partners to the Khartoum’s peace agreement are not hopeful about the ongoing peace process.

The National Democratic Movement (NDM) led by Dr. Lam Akol recently wrote to the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) complaining about why the regional bloc failed to form the Independent Boundaries Commission (IBC), a body stipulated in the agreement to decide how many states South Sudan should have.

Kiir created 32 states. But the opposition parties want the nation to return to its original 10 states, saying Kiir’s ethnic-based states are creating tribal conflicts and more issues in the country.

The South Sudan News Agency was told by a senior SPLM-IO official that the armed opposition is not happy about some actions being taken by the Joint Monitoring and Evaluation Commission (JMEC). The official explained that JMEC is taken some vital decisions without consulting the SPLM-IO and that these decisions have some to do with the distribution of powers and resources.